Improving Compliance of Care with a Cloud-Based Software Solution
Getting clients to follow through on care recommendations can be challenging. Even the best treatment plan won’t make a difference if pet owners aren’t on board. Because so many factors shape a client’s decisions, it’s important for veterinary teams to meet them where they are and work together to find the right fit. Today, there are many tools available that make this process easier for practices.
Shepherd’s whitepaper, Veterinary Research: Optimizing for Clinical and Operational Outcomes in 2025, analyzed real data from U.S. veterinary clinics to understand how software influences practice performance and patient outcomes. The findings show a clear connection between compliance of care and the use of cloud-based software solutions.
Here’s how cloud-based software can help boost compliance—and how your team can use these tools to support better patient care and a healthier bottom line.
What is compliance of care?
Compliance of care refers to how well pet owners follow their veterinarian’s medical recommendations. The term is broad, including:
- Giving medication at the correct dose and frequency
- Completing treatment plans
- Returning for follow-up exams
- Administering preventives
- Scheduling routine wellness services
In a perfect world, clients would follow through on every instruction. However, real life gets busy, clients forget, misunderstandings occur, and finances can change. When compliance of care declines, it can impact the patient’s well-being and the clinic’s financial health.
Barriers to compliance of care
Most pet owners truly want to follow their veterinarian’s recommendations, but there are a few bumps in the road that can get in the way. Paper discharge instructions can end up buried under a pile of junk mail, and verbal guidance may be hard to recall once clients get home. Following up helps, but it can be tough for already overwhelmed teams.
Without an easy, organized system to remind clients about next steps and track their progress, even the best treatment plans can lose momentum before they’re finished.
Better compliance of care leads to better business
When clients follow through on treatment and preventive care, everyone wins. Pets stay healthier, clinics see stronger revenue, and teams build lasting relationships with the families they serve. In Shepherd’s research, practices that switched to cloud-based veterinary software saw measurable increases in services per invoice, including 5.6% more parasite preventives purchased and 5.2% more dental cleanings. With easy-to-use communication tools and smart reminders, cloud-based systems make it simpler to keep treatment plans on track.
How cloud-based practice software supports compliance of care
Practices that switch to cloud-based practice software gain access to innovative tools that streamline client education and follow-up, enabling more client communication touchpoints with less staff time. Here are the features that make the biggest difference.
Pet portals
Client-facing pet portals enable pet owners to book appointments, request medication refills, view medical records, and pay invoices at their convenience. On average, clinics that enabled their pet portals saw two more appointments per day, or 12.5% more appointments than clinics without portals.
Automated reminders
Reminder calls and postcards take a lot of time. Even when clients receive them, life can get busy, and the message can get lost in the shuffle. Automated text and emails reach clients where they are and remind them of upcoming visits at multiple preset intervals, saving staff time and encouraging compliance. In fact, the research shows that practices using automated reminders saw no-shows drop by an impressive 41.2%.
Real-time EMR updates
With cloud-based veterinary software, teams can easily create clear discharge instructions and send them to clients by email or print them right from the exam room. Clients walk away with both digital and paper versions, if elected, making it easier to remember what to do at home. And if they have questions later, your team can quickly refer to accurate and up-to-date digital records to help—no digging required.
Easy appointment booking
Many clients are juggling work, family, and life—and calling during business hours isn’t always easy. When they remember their pet’s recheck at 9 p.m., they need a simple way to book it on the spot. Online scheduling through cloud-based software lets them do just that, helping you capture appointments quickly and keeping clients from drifting to competitors with more convenient options.
Text and email communication
These days, many pet owners live on their phones, where email and text reign supreme. When your practice can send reminders, instructions, follow-up care recommendations, treatment plan details, and educational materials to clients in the digital formats they use most, it fits seamlessly into their day and remains available for quick reference.
Helping compliance click into place
Ensuring solid compliance doesn’t have to be complicated. Taking advantage of cloud-based software can boost compliance in your practice by improving client communication, reducing no-shows, and increasing preventive care appointments.
Shepherd’s cloud-based practice management system was built for real veterinary teams, with tools designed to support smoother workflows and stronger client follow-through. Schedule a demo to see how our practice software can help your practice strengthen compliance, support healthier patients, and grow revenue along the way.
